


Small

by DarkHorseAsh



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Minor Injuries, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 11:35:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18010193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHorseAsh/pseuds/DarkHorseAsh
Summary: Everyone is turned into children.  The one left behind tries to keep them all safe.





	1. Nott

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/gifts).
  * Inspired by [nott the brave: supernanny](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17747945) by [nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife). 



Whatever she had expected to wake up to, it was not screaming children.  Nott had gone to bed curled up on top of Caleb, in their bubble in the middle of a forest, and had woken up very much Not curled up with Caleb.  Instead, she woke up to a small, blue child tugging on her wrist, eyes huge and fearful as she cries. She groans, stands, studies Jester’s tiny body before scooping the tiefling up.  Jester was  _ small,  _ Nott guessed about four years old, with big eyes and tiny horns creeping through her hair, and it would have been adorable if Nott wasn’t so confused and worried.  

 

Nott’s first thought is absolute panic.  Her second is that wow, she wouldn’t have expected Beau to look so frightened as she huddled behind Caleb, who was clearly trying and failing miserably to look tough.  “Ok, ok, calm down everyone, we’re fine.” She soothes, hands up. “It’s ok, guys.” This doesn’t seem to have the desired effect, as Caleb has quietly burst into tears.  Beau is crying silently, and gods, Nott does  _ not  _ want to know why the five-ish-year-old can cry silently.

 

She sets a now-not-crying-and-mostly-asleep Jester down on the bedroll, next to Cad.  The girl closes her eyes nearly instantly, cuddling up against the ball of fluff that was the firbolg.  Caleb is whimpering, but Beau has him behind her with a look of ferocity that was cute, but not as cute as it was heartbreaking to see such a small child.  Nott deliberately turns away and moves to her own bedroll, keeping a close eye on the humans until they settle down as well. 

 

She really, really had been hoping it was all a bad dream, but nope.  She wakes up to wailing children and a tension headache that is already forming.  “Ok, ok, everyone CALM DOWN!” She shouts, which...successfully quiets the majority of the voices, but does nothing to ease her headache or the general fear radiating off of the kids.

 

Somehow, they get through the morning.  Nott explains it as simply as she can “we’re friends.  We were trying to stop bad people. I think one of them cursed you all and now you’re little again.  We are going back to a big city, to see a friend.” Most of them accept it, but Yasha and Beau are looking at her with impossibly high levels of distrust and she decides to keep an eye on them because the  _ last  _ thing she needs is them running away on her.  

 

It only gets worse once they start walking.  Yasha and Beau hang as far from her as they can, while Jester attaches herself to Nott.  Caleb hangs over by Beau and Yasha, who put him between them and glare at anyone who comes close.  It’s really, really cuter than it has any right to be. The first issue is the fact their clothes really, really, do not fit.  Armor has been thrown into the bags that are strapped to the horses, which leads to issue two: Nott, a GOBLIN, is trying to lead eight horses.  Molly tried to help, but it really didn’t work and so he went off to bug Fjord, who seemed happy to just listen to the small tiefling talk. 

 

It takes her less than three hours to lose two of them.  One moment she’s trying to wrangle the horses, the next Caleb is yanking on her hand and whimpering in a mixture of Zemnian and Common that she doesn’t  _ really  _ understand, but figures out means “Yasha and Beau are GONE.”  She curses, ties the horses to a tree, grabs Molly’s hand with one of hers and Caleb’s with the other, and sets them down together on a log.  “ **DO NOT MOVE.”** she orders firmly, though gently.  Five pairs of eyes blink up at her.  “Fjord, Caleb, you are in charge, ok?”  Caleb WHIMPERS, latches onto her hand and clings to her and she just  _ knows  _ what he wants and so she relents.  “Ok, fine, Fjord, you’re in charge.  Nobody leaves this area, ok?” Fjord nods, sits up a little straighter, as she scoops Caleb up and runs.

 

Caleb is shaking, one hand playing with the bandages on her ear and the other clinging to her.  He’s so  _ small  _ for a human, too small and too painfully thin and so, so afraid that she just wants to hold him forever.  She runs the way he had indicated the girls had gone, stumbling but never falling as she searches for a sign.  In the end, it’s Caleb who hears it, a soft cry that her ears pick up, too, so she turns to the left, lowers her head, and keeps running.

 

The girls look a bit pathetic when she finds them five feet down on the bank of the river, and it breaks her heart.  Beau is curled on her side, clinging to one of her arms, and Yasha is crouched over her protectively. “Yasha” Nott soothes, because she _ really  _ needs Yasha to move if she can try and help Beau, “it’s ok.”  Yasha seems to disagree with this assessment of the situation, whining out a heavily accented “Hurt me, not her, please, she is already broken.”  Nott feels her heart clench painfully at the look of sheer  _ resignation  _ on the quiet child’s face.  “I’m not gonna hurt either of you, love.”

 

The walk back is quiet.  She’s carrying Beau, which is a little awkward because Beau is bigger than Caleb or Jester, but she isn’t much bigger.  She also isn’t helping, just huddling into Nott’s neck. Yasha is silent, but she has one arm wrapped around Caleb as the tiny redhead clings to her.  Nott needs to talk to her, soon, but right now she needs to make sure Fjord has kept Cad, Molly. and Jester in the clearing and that the horses are ok and figure out if she can SOMEONE get them on the horses.

 

They don’t walk for much after that.  She finds the other four napping, clearly unused to this much walking.  Yasha plops down next to Molly and clings to Caleb as Nott splints the broken wrist, because of COURSE they were out of healing potions, and settles Beau down with them all.  They stick to each other's sides as she makes up a fire and gets their rations divided out. The tough jerky and bread are really probably not what she should be feeding children, but at this point, Nott doesn’t really have anything else and so they’re going to have to work.  The slightly stale pastries from Jester’s bag help to convince them to eat the jerky. 

 

The rest of the evening was, blessedly, calm.  Fjord and Molly were playing with a deck of cards that Nott had fished out of her bag, while Jester had somehow gotten Cad to paint.  Beau was dozing, clearly exhausted from the run through the forest and the pain of her injured wrist. Caleb was tucked next to Yasha, who was staring down at Frumpkin in delight, slowly petting him with one hand.  Nott finishes setting up the tents, trying to decide who was going where. Yasha seems to decide for her, stalking across the campsite with a sleeping Caleb in one arm and Beau in the other. Nott doesn’t ask why the girl can so easily carry two figures pretty close to her size, but she lets it happen.  Molly trails after them, so Nott brings their blankets over and says goodnight and really, really hopes that they’ll still be there in the morning.

 

Nott wakes to a fluffy child curled up on her feet, a tiefling tucked into her side, and a half-orc singing softly under his breath in a language she didn’t speak.  Fjord was softer than she expected, quieter. Cad was impossibly sweet, snuggling up against the side of her leg and snuffling at her. She untangled herself slowly, setting Cad down next to Jester. Fjord watched with wide eyes as she slipped outside into the early morning light.

 

Yasha was already awake.  The girl looked so small, with the moon shining down it's last rays of the day on her and...were those tears on her cheeks?  Nott wanted, badly, to go and see what was wrong but she couldn’t help but remember the terror on the girl’s face when she had found them on the riverbank.  Nott hums loudly, seeing Yasha’s shoulders twitch hard as the girl swings to stare at her with wide eyes. “Hey, love, it’s ok. What’s wrong?” 

 

The girl whimpers, one hand pressed to her mouth in an effort to stifle the tears that ran down her face.  Nott kept her hands up as she approached, remembering how Caleb had acted when she had first seen him in the jail cell, like a wild animal.  “Shh, it’s ok.” Nott reaches the girl’s side, crouching down to face Yasha. “What’s wrong, darling?” That word seems to be all it takes for the girl to break.  She leans forward, buries her head in Nott’s shoulder, and just sobs.

 

The sun is rising by the time Yasha quiets.  Nott isn’t about to tell the girl to stop, she has a vague feeling that Yasha has been told that too many times even at this young age, so she just rocks the girl and hums softly until she finally falls quiet.  Nott is about to speak when a soft voice speaks up. “I am sorry.” “No reason to be, love. Are you hurt? Are you ok?” Yasha hesitates before nodding, shifting to look down at her ankle. Nott’s heart breaks all over again, as she realizes the young Aasimar girl had walked the entire way back to the camp without even giving the slightest indication that she was hurt.  “Ok. Can I help?” The tiny nod makes her smile despite the fact she wants to cry. “Ok. I can do that.” She gives her most reassuring smile. “Ok.” 


	2. Beau

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad you guys have liked this so far!! Tell me who you think I should do next, so far I am leaning towards doing Molly or Caleb.

Beau really, really wants to start cursing and hitting things.  She wants to slam her hands into the nearest wall or gnoll or whatever and not stop until her fingers were bloody and she could  _ think  _ over the overwhelming sense of panic in her head.  Unfortunately, even she knew that punching things was, in this moment, a really bad idea.  Half a dozen small faces were looking up at her in absolute fear, and it was in that moment she realized she was entirely, completely, utterly screwed. 

 

She still wasn’t sure what had happened.  She had woken up to a small hand yanking on her wrist, and turned to see large eyes on a gaunt face of a tiny, fluffy child.   _ Caduceus,  _ her mind had helpfully filled in, though that had done little to lessen her confusion.  It was then that she saw the others; Jester and Fjord were huddled across the room from her, while Caleb and Nott clung to each other.  Now, everyone was huddled around her in a sort of swarm of children that Beau really wasn’t sure how to deal with. 

 

Beau had never had any siblings, and while she certainly knew that her father’s methods were  _ not  _ how to care for a child, she had no idea what the proper methods WERE.  For now, at least, the children seemed to have accepted her, very truthful, explanation of what happened.  The problem was that they knew virtually nothing about the tiny town that they had ended up in, except that it was  _ not  _ a place beau ever wanted to have small children.  But she just sighed, grabbed her money bag, and glanced around.  “Molly, Caduceus, you are in charge, ok?” The tiefling and firbolg nod in delight, and Beau forces down the thoughts that this was  _ so  _ going to end badly before starting down the stairs.  

 

The room hadn’t burned down when she returned 25 minutes later, after a sprint for fresh bread and some pastries, along with the eggs and such that the innkeeper had made for all of them.  Her lie, that the others were sleeping off a hangover, had been accepted simply due to the amount of alcohol they had had last night. When she arrived back at the room, she found Caleb and Nott hunched off in the corner of the room.  Caleb had gotten his hands on one of his books, thankfully a history book rather than his spellbook, and was reading aloud softly as Nott curled up on his lap like a tiny green cat. Molly and Caduceus were sitting on the bed, and Beau grinned slightly when she realized that it was because they were watching the others.  Yasha was sitting on the second bed in the small room, braiding Jester’s hair slowly. 

 

The promise of food had everyone excited, and so Beau quickly dished out the eggs and meat and bread.  Most of the children dug in, and all it took to get Jester to eat was the promise of pastries coming after she ate to get her munching on the bread, too.  Beau relaxed ever so slightly, took her own portions, and dug in.

  
  


Beau scanned her charges, quickly leaving herself a mental note of their behaviors.  She might not have been the best at talking to people, but Beau had always been at least  _ ok  _ at reading people’s actions.  Caleb and Nott hunched over their food, Nott still on his lap, and ate so fast she was worried they would be sick.  Jester and fjord ate slowly, with the air of people who, even as children, had never had to question that she would have a next meal.  Yasha and Molly picked at her food, sending a glance around as if she expected to look back down and find that the food didn’t exist anymore.  Caduceus ate calmly, not savoring the meal but also not scarfing it down. He also shoved aside the meat, which made Beau grimace because even as a child caduceus was  _ so  _ thin.  They had to find a way to get more weight on the young firbolg’s bones. 

 

Breakfast is done too soon, and Beau is left with the reality that she has a room full of children and  _ no idea  _ what to do with them.  She’s certain that at least half of the children don’t trust her enough to go anywhere with her, but she  _ knows  _ that keeping this many children in a room won’t work.  So, she gives her best smile, prays it doesn’t look scary, and asks “who wants to go for a walk?”  

 

They are five minutes into the walk when Beau decides that this was a  _ terrible  _ decision.  Caleb clings to Nott like a lifeline and the goblin looks like she is holding back just as tightly.  Jester has taken to bouncing along next to Fjord, who is looking around with wide eyes. Yasha and Cad were whispering about flowers with Molly, who was having his hair braided by Yasha as they walked.  Cad kept darting off to literally every patch of grass, eyes wide and excited. It was very, very hard to say no to a little ball of fluff with big eyes, but Beau needed to because every time they stopped, the others got  _ antsy.   _

 

When they reached the edge of the town, Yasha halted, eyes wide.  The fields stretched out before them. It was spring, so the plants were just starting to grow.  Caduceus squirmed and grinned in delight, looking up at Beau with wide eyes. “Where we going?” He asked in delight.  Beau couldn’t help but smile at him. “You’ll see.” Caduceus held both hands up, eyes wide, and Beau rolled her eyes and scooped him up.  He was small and thin and  _ warm,  _ and so she couldn’t really complain about it.  She kept an eye on all of them, especially Yasha, because the young aasimar girl looked...twitchy.  

 

When they reached the field Beau had been leading them to, all of the children gasped.  They had found this field a few weeks ago, when they were hunting for somewhere to sleep.  It was full of flowers, with a small pond that Jester and Molly had dove into. Caduceus scrambled free the moment she put him down, flying towards the flowers as fast as his little legs could go.  Caleb headed for a tree, and Beau made a mental note to bring him the book she had shoved in her bag. Molly and Jester and Fjord went to sit at the edge of the small pool. Yasha stood silently, stoically, and Beau felt something  _ ache  _ as she turned to the girl.  “You can go play, hon.” Yasha just blinks, giving her a look of confusion before going to look at the flowers with Caduceus.

 

Everything seems to be going ok.  Caleb is reading in soft Zemnian to Nott, who clearly doesn’t know what he is saying but is content to sit on human’s lap and mess around with a padlock she had pulled from...somewhere.  Cad was laying on his back in the flowers, and Jester had come over to braid his hair as best she could with them. It was peaceful, or at least as peaceful as it could possibly be and then, just as quickly, everything went terribly wrong. 

 

“Fjord!”  Beau jerked her head up as she heard Jester’s cry of fear, seeing the small half orc tumble into the water and not come back up.  She was up and moving in seconds, running towards the water before she heard a second splash, twisted again to look at the sound, and froze.

 

Yasha had hurtled herself into the water.  For a horrible moment, Beau thought she had gone under, too, and she was already stripping to dive in after them when Yasha surfaced, hauling Fjord along behind her.  The girl dragged them both up onto the rocks, then the grass, thin body shaking violently from the cold. Beau finally reached them, dropping to her knees and wrapping her arms around them before she even knew what she was doing.  Yasha was shaking violently, eyes not quite seeing, and Beau had a terrible feeling that it was the cold’s doing. Fjord was curled on his side, back against her knees, as he hacked up water. Beau hummed frantically, trying to soothe the terrified children.  Fjord quieted, leaning into her, and she relaxed slightly, the adrenaline wearing off slowly as she realized they were  _ safe _ .  

 

The walk back to the inn was slow.  It was starting to grow dark, and she was getting very, very tired.  She carried Fjord, who buried his head in her shoulder and clings the whole way back.  Yasha sticks to her side, which Beau is glad for because it was painfully clear that the cold had caused memories of her  _ actual  _ childhood to rear their painful heads.  The others were calmer, with Nott and Caleb’s soft whispers that they didn’t think anyone could hear. Caduceus was talking animatedly about, and  _ to,  _ every plant they walked past, which was equal parts adorable and incredibly annoying.  On Beau’s other side, Jester was walking quietly as Molly tried desperately to cheer her up, twining his tail with hers and rubbing his horns softly against her horns.  Beau didn’t know a ton about tiefling body language, but she knew that meant  _ something  _ by the way Jester reacted to it.  She froze, jerked her head up, stared at him, and quickly tightened the grip her tail had on his. 

 

The townsfolk seemed very confused as they walked down the street, but thankfully no one stopped them on the way back to the room.  Beau wanted nothing more than to flop down on the bed, but she needed to get dinner for everyone. And then she could panic. Maybe.  Probably not. Forcing down her rising levels of stress, she got Fjord settled on the bed. Yasha had at some point started carrying Caduceus, and deposited him in front of Fjord before clambering up to sit on the sleeping boy’s other side.  Caleb and Nott were yawning, too, as Beau distributed the rations of bread and jerky. Even Jester ate without complaint, which showed just how worn out everyone was. Fjord, Caduceus, and Yasha were asleep quickly, while Nott and Caleb claimed the pillow area on the other bed and wrapped around each other.  It was equal parts adorable and heartbreaking, because they were so clearly curling up to be as small as possible and they were  _ kids.   _ Beau had never wanted to hurt people, or help them, more than that evening.  

 

Molly curled up on the far side of the second bed, seeming to understand that Nott and Caleb needed space.  He was snoring within seconds, too. That just left Jester, who looked up at her with wide, terrified eyes. “Jess?”  Beau asked softly, confusion clear in her voice as she tried to figure out why the tiny tiefling would be so upset. Jester blinked up with wide eyes, quivering and whimpering.  “I’m sorry!” She wailed softly, and Beau’s confusion just rose. “I pushed Fjord. I’m sorry!” Beau sighed internally, wrapping her arms around the girl and hoping that the others did  **not wake up.** “Why?”  Jester gave a tiny shake of her head, quivering against Beau’s chest.  “I didn’t know he couldn’t swim! He had been saying he was gonna throw me in and I know he was joking but I wanted to joke too and so I threw him in first and then he couldn’t swim.”  She wails into Beau’s neck. 

 

Beau prays to any god above for a suggestion on how to calm a hysterical tiefling child, tightening her hug.  “Jess, it’s ok. You didn’t mean to hurt him, and he’s fine now. He’s ok. You didn’t hurt him.” Jester relaxes slightly in her arms, and Beau relaxes with her.  “Cmon Jessie, time for bed. You can apologize to him tomorrow.” Jester nods, and so Beau stands with the girl still in her arms. She deposits her on the bed next to Molly, flicking a blanket over them.  “Night Beau.” Jester whispers, and Beau can barely suppress her smile. “Good night, Jester. Sleep well.” Beau moves to lay on the floor between the beds, tucking her blanket over herself and closing her eyes as she finally, finally, let herself relax.  


	3. Molly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mollymauk is two years old. he should probably not be left in charge of children. It goes about as well as you'd expect it to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this one might be a disaster, but it's the best I have. Comment on who you want to see next, and some ridiculous situations they could get into!

Molly was not generally someone who showed much fear, but right now he was pretty sure his terror was written on his face.  He had gone out for the evening, to find some  _ companionship,  _ and when he returned he had found a room full of children panicking just as much as he was now.  Yasha, who couldn’t be older than four, was trying to calm Caduceus, who was adorable and fluffy and the cutest thing Molly had ever seen, and for some reason that sent a spike of pain into his chest because the girl was  _ so small  _ and was still desperately trying to be useful.  Caleb had a book open on his lap, happy as could be as Beau and Jester were messing around with what looked like Jester’s colored pencils on the ground.  Fjord was eating his way through the rations, which was a  _ problem _ because Molly didn’t think he wanted to try and go buy more rations when his team appeared to all be Kids.  

 

He only truly started to panic when he realized that he didn’t see Nott.  He scanned them quickly, counting Fjord, Caleb, Beau, Yasha, Cad, and Jester, but saw no Nott.  Finally, just as he was about to truly panic, he looked closer at Caleb and saw the small green bundle curled up in his lap, apparently reading with him, and he let himself slump in relief. Yasha turns, spotting Molly and freezing.  “I’m sorry I tried to calm him down and get them not to eat everything” the girl whimpers, and Molly tries valiantly to keep the pain off his face at how scared of him she is. “It’s fine, Yash. You don’t need to take care of them that’s my job.”  He carefully snags Caduceus from Yasha’s grasp, letting the firbolg cuddle up into him before turning his attention to the others who are all watching him with wide eyes. 

 

“Ok everyone, let’s go get some food”  Molly decides, ignoring the fact that bringing seven children into the bar section of the inn was a  _ really bad idea.   _ He shepherds them down the stairs,  keeping Caduceus awkwardly held on his hip because the little Firbolg clearly did not want to get down.  Molly was starting to realize that he had  _ no idea  _ how to take care of children, which was not helping the panic slowly rising in his chest.  The barkeep turns to look at them, confusion on her face, but Molly sends her a  _ pleading  _ look and she softens.  “Eight breakfasts, please, I promise I have the money”  Molly calls over, and she nods and disappears into the back.  

 

The food is plain, eggs and bread and some meats.  Molly eats greedily, as do Caduceus and Caleb. Nott devours all of her food, and then nibbles on the edges of Mollys and seems to hope that he hasn’t noticed.  He does, in fact, notice, but he tries his best not show he knows. Fjord and Beau eat briskly and neatly, as Yasha picks at her food. She seems to catch Molly eating, because she mumbles “I have not worked to earn this.”  And shoves the plate away from her. “That means others eat first.” Molly forces down the stifling anger and turns his attention to her fully. “Hey, Yasha, look at me love. You don’t have to work for your food here, ok? I promise.  None of you do. I’m not going to hurt you, any of you.” The aasimar girl clearly doesn’t believe him, but she’s definitely eating faster now so he lets her be.

 

They’re off the next day. Molly doesn’t want to try and keep the seven kids in one small room, so he gets them loaded on the cart, clucks to the horses, and sends them off.  Yasha sits on the left horse, and after a quick tussle, Fjord somehow claims the other one. Caleb tucks himself right behind Molly with Nott sitting next to him and Jester flopped on the wooden cart next to him.  She was braiding Nott’s hair with little flowers that Caduceus had created. Beau was quiet, tucked in the far side of the cart away from the others. Fjord sat next to her, little head resting on her shoulder as he seemingly ignored the nervousness of the little human.  

 

It all comes to ahead a day later.  Molly wakes up, stretches out his back, and tries to ignore the exhaustion that he was still feeling.  He sits up and goes to tend to the fire, making himself breakfast. It was a few minutes later when he went to wake his charges.  He woke Caleb and Nott first, then Yasha and Beau, then Fjord and Jester. And Jester. And there...is no one else and there’s no tiny puffball with pink hair and sweet eyes and Molly is  _ panicking  _ because he knows he didn’t just misscount this time.  Caduceus was  _ gone.   _

 

Molly panics.  He paces, running one hand through his hair and breathing harshly.  Beau watches him with wide eyes, so he tries to force himself into some semblance of calm for her.  It doesn’t really work. He turns and sees that at some point in the last five...maybe more than five, he isn’t sure how long he’s been panicking for and that’s  _ bad,  _ minutes, Yasha has apparently taken charge.  The tent was packed, the fire was out. Caleb and Nott were eating the food that he had made for himself but he couldn’t make himself care.  Yasha was squirming, eyes wide and nervous under his gaze. As much as Molly wanted to try and do something about Yasha’s stubborn belief that she, a five year old, had to somehow  _ earn her keep,  _ even he could figure out that they should  **probably** find Caduceus first.

 

They walk.  The children huddle together behind him, all of them but Yashaa who is stalking ahead, scrambling over the rough ground and ignoring them all.She’s trying to track Cads and he doesn’t have the strength to tell her not to.  Fjord is walking slowly on his right, now, and Jester bounces on his left. He can hear the others behind him, Caleb’s quiet zemnian whispers and Beau’s hesitant, halting footsteps. He kept an eye on those, unconvinced that Beau wasn’t going to run off as soon as he stopped listening because the girl still looked so impossibly afraid of him.  

“Hey, Beau?”  Beau shifts, blinking up with wide eyes.  “You ok?” The girl tightens, eyes wide with fear that Molly can’t possibly understand.  He doesn’t even  _ remember  _ his childhood, how can he know what it means to be six years old and this tiny and this terrified.  “You don’t  _ have  _ to be ok, love.  I’m not going to hurt you no matter what you say, ok?”  Beau ducked down, long hair hiding her face for a moment before she roughly pulled it back.  “ ‘m scared.” She mumbled in a tiny voice. Molly had never,  _ ever,  _ thought he would hear Beau say she was scared and now that he had, he never wanted to again.  “I know. I’m scared too, kiddo. But we’re gonna be fine.” He turns back to the trail, looks around, and starts cursing in terrified infernal when he realizes that he can’t spot Yasha’s familiar multicolored eyes.  

 

Molly can barely bring himself to stop and sleep for the night.  He doesn’t want to, he wants to keep going, but the children are  _ exhausted _ and he can’t make them keep going.  He wishes intensely that he had been smart enough to bring their supplies, but all he had was his bag.  Caleb and Nott huddled together against the trunk of a tree. Molly fed them all from the rations in his bag, but it wasn’t nearly enough.  Jester wrinkled her nose in annoyance but the other four just ate slowly and Molly’s chest tightened again because these kids were so small and hungry and scared and he had  _ no idea what he was doing.   _ Molly props himself up against the tree trunk and lets the children curl up against him, so he’ll  _ feel  _ if they leave or if something takes them.  Jester and Fjord flop on one side of him, and Caleb and Nott curl up by his knees.  Beau is watching with wide, suspicious eyes, and so Molly just lays still. She eventually comes to sit close enough that he would  _ probably  _ hear, so he leans his head back and closes his eyes and prays for a good night’s sleep.

 

He wakes up, and for a moment he isn’t sure  _ why  _ he is awake.  And then he feels the sharp movement next to him and hears the stuttered gasps, and he gets it.  He’d learned to wake up without much reason beside that, sleeping beside Yasha in the circus. He hadn’t realized she had nightmares for the first month, till she had had an especially violent one that ended with him waking up when she accidentally twisted hard enough that her shoulder had struck his.  After that, she’d quietly admitted that she had plenty more nightmares, they just weren’t loud enough to hear. He’d worked hard to wake up for them, to be able to comfort her even if he knew she’d  _ never  _ ask him to.   

 

He turns, unsurprised to see Beau sitting up.  The girl is hunched in on herself, fist pressed into her mouth to keep her cries muffled even as her shoulders hitch and shake.  He feels an unreasonable level of heartbreak at the fact that a  _ child  _ could be so good at being so damn quiet as she cries.  “Hey love. It’s ok.” He breathes, twisting and gently drawing her into his lap.  Beau went stiff as a board, so he just ran his hands over her back and murmured gently until the girl went limp, burying her head in his shoulder and starting to really shake.  

 

Molly hums softly, trying his best to not wake the others.  Beau cries for what feels like an eternity before finally going still in his lap.  “You ok, kiddo?” Beau gives a stiff nod, curling closer to Molly as if she couldn’t quite believe that he was there.  Molly bent forward and curled his knees up, enclosing the small human. “You want to tell me what that was about? You don’t have to.”  Beau gives a frantic shake of her head, so Molly just nods. “Ok. Cmon, let’s get some more sleep, ok?” The girl in his lap  _ droops,  _ starts to get off, and Molly stops her with a hand on her shoulder.  “You don’t have to move if you don’t want to, love. I’m not gonna be mad either way.”  

 

He wakes up with a lapful of human and his other charges curled up against his sides.  Four of them in all. And then he counts again because  _ how the fuck is another one missing how is he so  _ **_bad_ ** _ at this  _ and Fjord isn’t there.  Jester is terrified and Nott and Caleb are clinging to each other like they’re never going to let go and Beau, despite the brave look on her face, has tears in her eyes and Molly can’t fucking handle this  and  _ oh god not now why can’t he breath.  _

 

He opens his eyes to Beau’s brown and Caleb’s blue ones.  They're grabbing his wrists, Caleb singing something in soft Zemnian as Beau counts, short, halting words.  As much as Molly wants to ask  _ how the hell do you know what to do when someone has a panic attack you’re like SIX,  _ he doesn’t.  He just wraps them both up in a hug and whispers his thanks.  Beau hesitates, before haltingly muttering “remember when you said I could ask you anything and if you could you’d try and help?”  Molly nods, he had said that exact thing the day before. “Could you...could you do something about this?” One of Beau’s hands curls up to touch her hair. “I don’t, I don’t like it long I don’t like it but Mother always makes me keep it long I asked if it could be short once and they got mad.”  Beau’s eyes are wide with fear, so Molly impulsively leans forward and tugs her back into his side. “Of course! Let me just find some scissors, love.”

 

The first time Beau really smiles and he sees it is when he cuts her hair short.  She’d asked, soft and polite and afraid, but by the end she was grinning. “Thank you thank you please do not tell my family.”  Molly smiles, glad for a promise that he  _ will  _ be able to keep as he grins down at her. “Course not, love.  Come on, let’s go find the others, hm?” 

  
They find them in a cave two days later, scared but unharmed by the creature that apparently felt a need to adopt lost baby animals.  Molly wraps them up in his arms and buries his face in them and clings to all of them with everything he has because he’s _so fucking bad at this._  And then Beau nuzzles under his neck and tucks her head onto his shoulder and lets him hug her and he vaguely thinks he might not be the _worst_ person in the world.  Maybe the second or the third, but not the worst.  Certainly not the worst.


	4. Caleb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caleb felt like he wouldn't suck at this, he's taught himself how to be a functional person even if he's freaking out. I hope you enjoy! Yasha is *probably* next!

Caleb wakes up to a tiny hand on his face. This isn’t entirely unusual, because Nott has small hands and sleeps in his lap most nights, but this one is far smaller than usual so his eyes jerk open and he stares at the tiny goblin in his lap. She’s so small, far smaller than usual, looking up at him with wide, terrified eyes. He wraps her up in his arms and turns, left and right, cursing under his breath when he sees the other small faces blinking up at him in the light that comes through the window of the dinghy inn. “Ok. We are going to stay calm and figure out what is going on, ja?” Caleb says nervously, internally panicking. Nott clings tight, buries her tiny head in his arm, and just quivers. They all look scared, small and shaky and he feels wildly unqualified to look after children but he also doesn’t have a better option so he just dips his head and beckons them. “Come here, guys, it’s ok. It’s fine.” 

Twenty minutes later, he’s got six small children near him. Nott is on his lap, Fjord and Jester are tucked into his sides. Caduceus is curled up around Nott like a fluffy pet, soft and warm and fairly soothing. Molly is sitting against his knees with Yasha a few feet away, close enough that Caleb could see her but not really touching. On the other side of the room, Beau is hunched on the second bed in the room, watching him intently. Her shirt hangs nearly to her knees, and her usually tough eyes are dark with terror. 

Once everyone seems calmer, except him, Caleb carefully untangles himself and stands. He can do this, it’s fine. He just needs to make a plan, which he is very good at, and then they can figure out what to do and they will be fine. The first step, once they get some breakfast, needs to be to find the children some clothes because their clothes currently do not fit and he can not have them just walking around in tshirts that are effectively dresses on the tiny humans and tieflings and goblin and half-orc. Food, then clothes, then more of a plan will be made.

They get into the bar and everyone is looking. Caleb forces down the urge to order himself a drink, because that’s the only thing that could make this worse. The children are watching with wide eyes as he nudges them into a booth and orders breakfast, making sure everyone was alright. Nott curls up on his lap, smaller even than Frumpkin. She seems to be the equivalent of a 5 or 6 year old human, like the rest of them, but she is so terrifyingly small that he doesn't really want to put her down for fear that he might step on her. For her part, Nott at least seems to remember that he’s her best friend, because she’s perfectly content cuddling against his chest or standing on his knees so she can reach the table and eat her eggs and bacon. 

The staring doesn’t lessen when they go outside. Nott is cuddled to his side with one hand and Cads is on the other, the tiny firbolg seeming far happier than when Caleb had tried to make him walk. Molly trotted ahead, only slowing when Caleb called out to him, while Yasha lagged a step or two behind, close enough to grab her best friend but far enough away that she wouldn’t be told to come closer. Beau walked silently on his right, and it took him a few moments to figure out why it made him so uncomfortable; she moved more like a showpiece than a six year old. She was nearly silent, movement stiff and taught, and Caleb wants to sweep her into his arms and just hug her because he, ten years older and with fire on his fingers, had once moved in the same way.

They reach the tailor’s shop all too quickly. Caleb shuffles his charges inside, setting Caduceus down but keeping Nott on his hip as he approached the counter. A young woman, with bright eyes and subtly peaked ears that showed off an elven heritage, emerged from the back room and smiled at the rag-tag group who had entered her shop. “Hallo there I am Caleb. I was wondering, you make clothes for children, ja? Not just adults?” The woman dipped her head, a kind smile on her lips. “Of course. My name is Willow, it’s very nice to meet you, Caleb. Now, I am not going to ask what circumstances led you to be in charge of so many little ones, but come into the back and we can get some sizes and see what everyone wants, hm?” 

Jester and Molly Love the shop. They run between the fabrics and call out happily to each other in infernal. Cads is delighted by the color, too, though he follows at a slower pace than the charging tieflings. Beau had gone sullen and quiet the instant that Caleb had told her where they were going, and she still hadn’t stopped. Fjord looked hesitant, but intrigued, as he trotted obediently after Caleb. Willow had settled down on a stool, and gestured for Caleb to sit on another. He sat, and tried to set Nott down, but the girl clung tigther and sent him a look that clearly said she did not support this plan and so he just let her curl up on his lap once more. “So, what are you looking for?” 

“I need, um, seven? Yes, seven, sets of clothing for the children. They can tell you what they want, I have no real preference as long as they are wearing clothing and shoes.” Willow gives an amused smile. “You realize that means that they will be ludicrously colored?” Caleb gives a tired nod. “Ja, but it will make them happy.” Willow dipper her head, understanding flickering over her expression. “Alright, well, this will be fun.” 

For the first few, it’s shockingly easy. Jester wants a red dress with blue pants and despite the fact that that color scheme is weird Caleb doesn’t complain because the little girl looks thrilled. Nott just wants a shirt and pants, plain and simple and clean, which is easy enough to do. Fjord asks, softly, if he might have a coat like “Mister Caleb” And it’s impossibly adorable to see the tiny half-orc effectively dressed like a cleaner miniature version of him. And then? Then it got to the ones that Caleb just somehow knew were going to be harder.

Beau slinks over when he calls, eyes wide and skittish. “Beau, what do you want?” The girl freezes, letting out a harsh, upset laugh, as if this was some sort of cruel joke being played on her. “You know what to get me. The same thing Mother always says to get me don’t act like I have a choice the child snarls. “You know what she will say, get me the prettiest dress you have and they’re so ugly and I don’t want one but it never matters what I want!” Her voice is sharp and scared and so upset that Caleb reaches out with his free hand and pulls her to his side. “You can get whatever you want, Beau. If you don’t want a dress, than we will not get you a dress. Do you want more like what Fjord has?” When the human gives a tiny nod, he smiles, some of the fear running out of his shoulders. “Alright, we can definitely do that. Do you want it colorful?” At this, Beau perked up eagerly. “Could it be green?”

Yasha is harder. The girl hangs back even when he calls for her, to the point he has to turn and look at her in order to make sure she hadn’t vanished. She was shivering slightly, and Caleb once more had to force down this really sudden surging desire to protect the children. “It’s alright. You’re safe, Yasha.” The girl ducks her head, eyes flickering longingly to the section of deep blue fabric. Caleb watches her eyes, before moving and pointing at it. “Ok, you want that one? What kind of clothes do you want?” The girl swings to look at him, eyes wide, but Caleb just calmly sits until she haltingly asks if she can have something warm. He nods and she bolts, back towards the front room and the others. He lets her go, not wanting to push the girl any further when she was clearly upset, but glad that she had at least asked. 

Caduceus is easier than he had expected; the pink puffball is happy with the most colorful things there made into what is effectively a small set of robes. The boy seems thrilled with his new clothes, which is a relief for Caleb, who had worried that it would be hard to find something the incredibly laid back child liked. Molly was the only one who was left, and this was something that Caleb was sort of dreading because Molly had seemed incredibly indecisive the entire time they were in the shop, running his hands over each bit of fabric. Molly looked far shyer than he had expected, blinking up fearfully. “Hey, it’s ok.” Caleb is pretty sure that is quickly becoming his most used phrase. “I don’t care what you want.” Molly’s eyes skittered over to what Jester had and Caleb gave a soft smile. “Alright, in what colors?”

In the end, they looked ridiculous and absurdly brightly colored, but at least that would make it hard for him to lose them. Beau looked more relaxed, moving slowly, but less robotically, alongside him. The town was tiny, so Caleb walked slowly to keep the others alongside him. “Ok guys, who wants to go for a cart ride?”

They’re off. Caleb doesn’t want to drive a cart full of five to six year olds, but he really has no better option, and the children are far more easily distracted than he had anticipated. Alfield was only a two-day ride away. The first day, Caleb just found as much scrap paper as he could, gave them Jester’s pencils, and made a mental promise to buy her more later. Caduceus spent most of the ride eagerly perched next to Caleb in the front of the cart, calling out the names of Every Single bird and tree they went past that he knew. Nott spent the Entire ride curled up on his lap, tiny hands tangled in his coat as she listened to Caduceus. 

Nott was impossibly clingy, which Caleb was pretty ok with. It had been a long, long time since someone had touched him so freely. Sure, Nott and he would often touch hands, or he’d scoop her onto his shoulders, but it still wasn’t nearly as much as the contact he got over the two-day ride. Caduceus would lean into his side and Molly would sprawl over his legs whenever he came into the back of the cart to sit with them and it felt so warm and safe that he sometimes felt like crying because he had never had this. 

It all came to ahead on the second night. They had made it to Alfield, and Caleb had managed to buy them a room at the inn for the night. “Maybe we’ll see Bryce tomorrow.” He decided aloud, ignoring the confused looks the children sent him since, of course, they had no idea who Bryce was. “You guys take the bed. I’ll take the floor.” 

He had gotten through the first night without nightmares, so he had foolishly believed that his mind had given him a little bit of time off, or that the sheer exhaustion had knocked him on his ass so hard he couldn’t dream. That was what he had hoped, right up until the moment he surged upwards, screaming bloody murder. He can’t breath, can’t even move, and so he just gasps and shakes against the floor. He vaguely realizes there are tears running down his face. He tries to force himself to calm, dragging in frantic breaths as he forces his back against the wall and buries his head in his hands.

And then, there are small hands wrapping around his wrist, pulling his hand from where his nails were clawing into his skin, and a tiny goblin was on his lap. He blinked up sluggishly, finding Yasha’s multi-colored eyes looking down at him, worry written across her face as she tucked herself into his side and wrapped around his hand to keep it down. Fjord was on his other side, with Caduceus curled behind Nott. He blinked sluggishly, feeling panic spike before he spotted Jester and Beau hurrying over and went limp. One of them tossed a thick, heavy blanket over his shoulder and he curled gratefully into it as Jester perched behind him to massage his shaking shoulders. 

Beau moved to tuck herself into the pile of children, too, small hand curling around his. Caleb made a harsh, tired noise, burying his head in his lap and feeling the warm bodies curl closer. “Danke.” He murmurs, feeling far less panicked and far more exhausted than he had expected. Yasha was singing, he realized dully, and even though he could usually understand the celestial, it was way more effort than he was willing to use right now so he tightened his grip and thought that, maybe, being surrounded by children wasn’t the worst thing in the world.


	5. Yasha

Yasha wakes up to a terrified ball of purple child slamming into her chest, and silently thinks that this is  _ not  _ the weirdest way she’s ever woken up. Then her brain connects the dots and she jerks into a sitting position.  The tiny purple tiefling is curled up in her lap, shaking in terror. “Where are we?” Molly whimpers, head tucked into her shoulder, and she curses in her head.  “Shh, it’s fine!” She soothes, running a large hand over the frail tiefling’s back and glancing around the room, noting the other children curled in various corners of the room.  Caleb is clinging to Nott, with Beau huddled next to him. Fjord is pressed into the far corner of the room, with Jester sitting next to him and looking far calmer than the others.  Caduceus is snuggled under a blanket, small and fuzzy looking, and she relaxes because at least  _ he  _ is still asleep.  

 

She moves slowly, Molly on her hip.  He tucks his thin head into her shoulder and rubbed his horns across her neck and shakes.  “Shhh” She breathes, fingers caressing the back of his neck. She’s never been good with people, but  _ children  _ are easy.  They’re soft and kind and even she can’t find something bad in them. Caleb whines, curling closer to Nott and Beau. The children seem to have at least  _ some  _ memory of their bonds, she notes, but that isn’t helping when they don’t like her at all.  “Hey, it’s alright.” She soothes gently. “I know you guys are scared, but I am not going to hurt you.  It’s alright.” Molly curls closer and she shifts to rub his horns, feeling the little tiefling relax heavily against her side.  “There we go, it’s ok.” 

 

The trio are her first stop, and she takes stock of them quickly.  Beau looks so brokenly afraid that Yasha wants to sweep her up and cuddle her and then go murder her parents.  Probably in that order. Caleb has one  _ far too skinny  _ arm around her shoulders and his head rests on neck.  Nott is clinging to them both, shivering and fearful, and Yasha counts the sars already on her thin body.  “Hey, it’s ok.” She soothes. Beau has a black eye and her open eye is wide with absolute terror that she’s clearly trying and failing to mask.  Caleb quivers, trying to put on a brave face as he shields Beau and Nott with his own body. Yasha gives them what she hopes is a reassuring smile and moves slowly over to the others.  Caduceus is still asleep, curled up in a little ball.

 

Fjord looks terrified.  Jester looks scared, but she’s putting on a brave face as she huddles next to the half-orc, who is smaller than Yasha would have expected.  She sighs, pulling herself to her feet and turning to address all six of the children who are not currently on top of her. “Alright. I know you guys are scared, and you have ever right to be scared, but there is nothing I can do tonight.  You guys take the beds and get some sleep, and I will take the floor.” Molly tightens his grip and she dips her head, whispering infernal into his ear. Her infernal has always been questionable, but he relaxes as she rasps out that he is  _ forever hers  _ in a way she hopes gets the message across that he can sleep with her.  She stretches out on the floor between the beds, Molly tucked into her side, and closes her eyes.

 

She wakes to sunlight coming through the window.  Molly is sitting next to her, red eyes wide with nerves.  She scan the room instinctively, looking for threats and counting the children who were watching her warily.  Caleb, Beau, and Nott seemed to have claimed one of the beds, while Jester and Fjord were on the one that Caduceus had been on before.  Yasha took a deep, slow breath, trying to force down her terror. She had done a thousand terrible things, faced far worse things than a room of children without batting an eye, but she was  _ terrified.   _ These were her FRIENDS she didn’t want to get them hurt or worse, killed or lost because she was incompetent as a caregiver to anything more needy than a rock.  

 

Everyone seems calmer, now that it’s morning.  Beau still hangs back behind Caleb, eyes wide as she looks up at Yasha.  Nott is curled against Caleb’s side in a similar way to how Yasha is holding Molly, because the tiefling had started wailing when she had tried to get up without him.  Caduceus blinked up with wide eyes. He was smaller than Yasha had thought, but impossibly sweet. Yasha hesitantly glances around, trying to decide on what the children needed first when the boy spoke up.  “Miss Yasha, can we have some food?” Relieved for some kind of direction, Yasha gives a quick nod and forces a smile. “Sure. We can do that.” 

 

She needs to get them out of here.  People don’t take kindly to her as it is, and they’re going to think she’s stollen the kids if they see her with them.  She herds them outside and to the cart the moment breakfast is done, making sure they had Nugget and Sprinkle and all of their things.  They’re already getting weird looks, so she gives her most intimidating stare to everyone they see. She settles on the bench at the front of the cart, snaps her fingers, and they’re off.  

  
  


Yasha realizes two things quickly.  One, she doesn’t actually know how to drive a cart and apparently it is harder than she had thought.  Two, trying to coop up 7 children in a cart is a  _ terrible idea  _ that will only end in misery, mostly for her. She gets exactly One small town away before she gives up, pays far more gold than she wants to to board the horses and cart for the next six months, since she has no idea when they’ll be back, and sets off on foot.  She’s never been more grateful for the bag of holding than right now, since it meant she could carry most of their things without too much effort as long as she made sure she didn’t put the haversack in it since that would apparently rip a hole to the astral plane and she did not want to do that.

 

It turns out that walking with children sucks more than being in a cart with them.  Molly still effectively refuses to walk, or speak common, so while he is light enough that she can carry him she’s constantly stuck using only one arm.  It’s the second day of movement and she doesn’t think she’s heard Caleb speak once, which makes sense when Nott scurries up to her at about noon. “C-caleb wants to know if we can have some food?”  Yasha blinked down at the tiny goblin, so small she could probably crush her with her heel. “Of course, but why can’t he ask me himself?” Nott gives her a perplexed look, tilting her head. “You don’t speak Zemnian.”

 

They make it two days without any Major issues. Of course, that’s ignoring a massive amount of minor issues, like sore feet and scrapes and Caduceus wandering off to look at every single plant that they walk past.  But by and large, everyone is doing Fine and Yasha is almost proud of herself for that. Even the third day walking is going well, until perhaps noon. She’s walking with Molly on one arm and Nott, who wouldn’t stop glancing over at Caleb, on the other.  Half way through day two, she had nudged Caduceus over to Jester and Fjord and asked them to make sure he didn’t wander off and so far, that arrangement seemed to be working. 

 

And then, it’s raining.  It starts slow, which is annoying, but then it gets worse and worse until it’s pouring.  Nott is wailing, cuddling on Yasha’s shoulder and whimpering in terror. Caleb holds tight to her on one side and Caduceus holds the other.  Fjord and Jester are pressing against her legs, and she pauses for a moment until she notes that Beau is on the other side. It’s so impossibly miserable that she wants to scream or cry, something she doesn’t think she’s done in  _ years,  _ but she’s so fucking tired.  She can hear the Stormlord calling her but she firmly ignores it, forcing her feet to continue moving forward.  

 

She isn’t sure how much longer she can keep moving.  Everything  _ hurts,  _ the kind of hurt that eats at her bones and leaves her shivering in pain and exhaustion.  She’s stumbling, now, trying to keep three children on her body and three more pressed against her legs so she knows they’re there and she keeps almost falling over them and she’s  _ so tired.   _ Beau is gasping, stuttering little whimpers that make it clear she can barely breath, so Yasha forces herself to her knees and the girl onto her hip.  “Shh, it’s ok” She breathes, praying the noise reaches the children over the wind. “I’ve got you. It’s ok.” 

 

It’s so, so not ok.  Nott is asleep on her shoulder, hands tangled in her hair. Fjord and Jester are huddling a few steps behind her covered in mud and dirt and fear.  Yasha falls to her knees, spotting an old tree with large, twisted roots and crawling towards it. She slides down into it, making sure not to land on the children as she drops the bag.  The children huddle against her sides, curling to try and keep the rain off their bodies as they quickly slip into sleep. She lays awake as long as she can, guarding them with her arms and her body and her soul as she frantically tries to keep them alive.

 

She wakes up and immediately wants to fall back asleep.  She  _ hurts,  _ pain deep in her chest and her arms and everything really, and it’s still raining.  She takes a moment to find rope, tying it around herself so Jester, Fjord, Caleb, and Nott have something to hold on to.  Nott clings to Caleb, eyes wide. Caleb is whimpering in Zemnian and Nott is clearly failing somewhat at her ability to speak it, but she’s trying.  Molly curls closer into her side, whimpering pitifully. He’s so impossibly clingy like this, frantically grabbing for her if she dares to put him down for a moment and begging her to hold him.  She’s never seen a child so brokenly afraid and traumatized, so she just holds him as tight as she can and promises in whispered celestial that she won’t ever leave him, that he’s  _ safe  _ here.  

 

It rains harder.  She’s near tears, hands pressed to her face and shivering in pain.  She’s ready to give up, ready to beg the Stormlord to take her, because it can’t possibly be worse than this.  She stumbles over a root and falls forward, grimacing as she readies herself to hit the mud once more, because she isn’t sure she’ll get back up again.

 

And then, there are strong hands wrapping around her and pulling her onto her feet again.  She sways, blinking through the rain, until a Firbolg’s face appears. It looks impossibly kind, albeit worried.  “It’s alright now, you’re safe.” The voice soothes. Yasha can barely breath, shivering violently. Another firbolg face appears, eyes brightening.  “You must be Yasha. Your friends told us all about you. I am Nila.” She vaguely remembers hearing about the Firbolg from Molly and Caleb, who had said that she was very nice, but was still...surprised that the kind-eyed woman could recognize her.  “It’s alright. We’ve got you, now, you are safe here.” 

 

She thinks she blacks out, because the next time she opens her eyes she’s laying on a bedroll, blanket tossed over her body and Molly curled in her arms.  She jerks awake, scrambling back against the wall. Molly moves with her, eyes wide. “Yasha!” He wails. Yasha softens, murmuring gently in celestial and wrapping her arms around him.   _ “I am here, you are my friend, I am here, I am not going to leave you.”   _ It’s a very, very strange mix of infernal and Celestial once Molly joins in, and she can’t help but think that these are two languages that were never meant to be together but still sound so beautiful.  

  
It’s not raining anymore.  She slips outside, still covered in mud and dirt and grime, Molly at her side.  The others are sitting in a half-circle around a small fire, seemingly listening to a few firbolgs who were on the other side of the fire.  She smiles, glancing over at Nila and hoping that the woman understands the gratitude in her eyes when she mouthes _thank you._ Nila smiles as she watches Yasha move to stand behind the children.  The sun was just cresting the horizon, a brilliant ball of orange and red and gold and beauty.  “Thank you.” Yasha breathes, and Nila smiles.  "It was no trouble.  Your family saved mine, we were just returning the favor."  Yasha ducks her head down, leaning into the woman's shoulder as an arm comes down and wraps around her and, together, the families watch the sun rise.  


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fjord and Caduceus get a turn.

 

Fjord hasn’t stopped cursing in orcish since he woke up.  He’d always tried his absolute hardest to  _ not  _ be around children at the orphanage.  They had been scared of him, most of the time, and there was nothing that could hurt an eight-year-old half orc more than when a toddler started screaming at them in terror.  That had always  _ hurt,  _ and and so he had tried his best to stick to himself and for the most part everyone had let him do so.  

 

But now, he was sitting in a room with two small tieflings clinging to his sides.  Yasha was curled in the far corner of the room, vibrating in pure terror with Beau hunched protectively in front of her.  Caleb was clinging to Nott and trying to hide behind Caduceus, who was an  _ adult,  _ thank god, but was also asleep and had almost died the day before so Fjord didn’t want to wake him if he didn’t have to.  Nott was curled up, after effectively shaking herself to sleep in Caleb’s arms. He tucked her into his side and snarled in Fjord’s direction when the man turned to look at them.  

 

Fjord was  _ so not awake enough to deal with this.   _ He was in the middle of  _ nowhere  _ with a group of terrified children around him.  He gave up on doing this and stalked over to shake Caduceus awake, feeling like a  **terrible** person when the firbolg actually whimpered in pain and twitched awake under his hands.  “Fjord, wha’s wrong?” Caduceus groaned, shifting to sit up and blinking as he came face to face with a tiny purple tiefling. “...ah.  Nevermind, then. I see why you woke me.” 

 

Caduceus was remarkably calm about the whole thing.  He settled Molly against one side and Yasha against the other and talks to them about flowers.  He’s moving slowly, carefully, in a way that clearly shows a  _ lot  _ of pain, but he’s up and drinking water and so Fjord hopes that means he will be ok because he  _ doesn’t have either fucking cleric right now and that’s very bad.  _ Caddy was leaning against the cart, one arm loosely wrapped around Molly as the tiefling dozed.  Yasha was braiding flowers into Caleb’s hair by the time Fjord got back from foraging for food, with Nott settled next to Jester eating donuts.  Fjord wasn’t  _ entirely  _ sure where the donuts had come from, but he wasn’t going to complain because the children were settled and quiet and looking  _ slightly  _ less like he was going to kill them in their sleep.

 

He wants to set off, but Caduceus clearly isn’t in a great position to help, so Fjord has to break the entire camp down by himself.  They’re barely a day away from Alfield, and he’s desperate to get back and talk to Bryce and see if they have any ideas. Even if they don’t, that’s another pair of hands to help with the terrified children who won’t go near him.  Jester is the exception to this rule; she spends most of the time in the camp clinging to his side and trying to ‘help’ him take down the camp.

 

He tried not to let it hurt, how they wouldn’t go near him.  He knew why, knew children in the empire grew up being told that orcs were  _ bad scary dangerous  _ things that would eat them  in the night, but these were still his  _ friends  _ and he had let himself hope that would override the fear.  Except it wasn’t doing that, except seemingly with Jester. And Fjord was damn near  _ certain  _ that that was more because no one had ever told her to be scared than because she remembered him.  

 

They reach Alfield and he wants to die of  _ relief.   _ Bryce rushes out to see them as soon as Fjord walks into the town, but they quickly freeze as they take in who he’s with.  Caduceus gives a slight wave, pain flickering over his face as he does. “Bryce, please don’t ask and just say there are rooms at the inn?”  Fjord nearly begs. Their eyes soften as they nod. “Course. Cmon, let’s get your...charges settled, and then I’m buying you the biggest cup of ale I can find.”

 

Caduceus babysits.  Fjord slumps on a stool and gulps down half of his ale in seconds, eyes blank, as Bryce watches with their eyes wide and concerned.  “Slow down, man. I don’t wanna take it but you’re gonna make yourself sick.” The half-orc nods, but Bryce isn’t surprised when an hour later he’s slumped with his head resting against their arm.  “The kids are so scared of me.” His voice is tiny and heartbroken. “I just...they won’t even go near me!” Bryce sighs, swinging to the side and tugging the man into their chest, running a hand through his hair.  The barkeep takes the gold they shove in his way and pockets it as he ignores them, letting Bryce run their hands through Fjord’s hair and whisper under their breath to the shaking man.

 

Fjord wakes up with a headache and a blanket tucked over him.  He groans, hauls himself to his feet, and makes his way upstairs.  Caduceus is curled up on one of the beds, face twisted in pain, so Fjord just smoothes the blanket over him and lets him rest.  The children are curled on the second bed; Yasha is curled against Molly with Jester tucked between them, and Caleb, Nott, and Beau are a tangled mess of limbs.  He settles against the wall, resting his head back on his hands as he keeps an eye on all of them and hopes that won’t scare them.

 

He wakes up with a tiefling on his lap.  Jester is curled up with her tiny head under his chin and her hands clinging to one of his.  Caduceus is still motionless on the far bed, head buried in his arms as his sides twitch in pain.  Fjord stands, slowly, carrying the girl over and laying her down on the bed with the other children before turning to try and sort out Caduceus.  The firbolg is coughing weakly, sides spasming under Fjord’s worried hands before his eyes flicker tiredly open. “I’ll be fine, Mr.Fjord. Get the little ones out of here for a while, I’m sure they’d love to meet Bryce!”  He’s clearly trying to sound enthusiastic for the wide-eyed children on the other bed, and Fjord doesn’t really have the strength to argue.

 

He’s so tired and they’ve been outside for about 3 minutes.  Bryce greets them at the door, takes one look at the children huddling away from Fjord, and opens the door wide.  “Come in!” Their eyes are wide with concern and Fjord realizes he must look like absolute  _ garbage  _ because Bryce shoves a cup of coffee into his hands and turns to the children.  “Alright, who wants to go see the animals?” 

 

It turns out that being the guard in charge of all the other guards in a town means that getting a large group of children in to see animals is  _ easy.   _ It helps that all the townsfolk genuinely seem to like Bryce.  The children do, too, sticking close to their side. Jester tucks herself into Fjord’s side and, slowly, Beau joins her.  He’s not sure if that counts as progress or not but he thinks it is because when he very slowly kneels and reaches down to put a hand on her shoulder for a moment, she doesn’t flinch away from him.  “So, what do  _ you  _ want to see?”  Beau gives a small shake of her head, eyes wide, and Fjord makes another note in his head to go give her parents a piece of his mind at  _ some  _ point.  He waits, until the human gives a soft “Are there any dogs?”

 

It turns out there are dogs, and horses, and pigs,and cows, and basically every livestock animal and because it’s spring, there are  _ babies.   _ The children dart between the pens squealing in absolute delight.  Fjord smiles, sending a grin at Bryce, who grins widely and gives a thumbs up in his direction before turning their eyes back to the children.  Jester has dragged Caleb to look at the baby sheep, while Nott stares at the little foals in a pasture in absolute awe. Fjord keeps a  _ very  _ close eye on her, because he’s pretty sure that she’s going to go try and ride one. Yasha and Molly are somehow both holding kittens, and Fjord is vaguely sure that they’re not putting those down, and he wonders if their adult self would kill him if they got new pets.  He scans them all again, freezing. “Beau?” 

 

Bryce must see the worry on his face because they grin and beckon him.  “Cmon, I know where she is.” They lead him quickly to a side door, nudging it open and showing a small, well-lit room.  Fjord’s eyes fall on Beau, in the back corner, surrounded by puppies. He grins, dips his head in thanks to Bryce, and turns back just in time to shout, “Nott, Jester, get off that horse  _ right now!”  _

 

When he calls that it’s time to go, he’s met with an immense amount of groans, but far less terror than six hours earlier, and some of the tension bleeds out of his shoulders.  Bryce grins, tilting their head at an angle where they can feign ignorance in regards to the 2 kittens that Yasha and Molly are cradling. Fjord lasts approximately .5 seconds under their puppy dog eyes before he dips his head, warmth flickering in his chest as they both grin happily.  Fjord can’t even be mad because he’s not sure he’s  _ ever  _ seen Yasha look this happy before.

 

Beau is the last one to reach them and she’s cradling a brown and black puppy in her arms.  Fjord sends a glance at Bryce; he knows the cat’s are mostly feral and mousers, but the dogs are guard dogs and they’re useful and he knows it.  Bryce knows it, too, but their eyes are impossibly kind and Fjord knows they’re not well going to tell her to put it back so they just turn away, pretend not to notice, and lead the children and Fjord back towards the inn. 

 

Caduceus wakes up with a tiny goblin tucked into his neck, at tiefling on his lap, and a kitten on his face.  He’s pretty sure the kitten is the most surprising, so he slowly gets a hand up and moves the little silver animal. It mews pitifully so he tucks it into one of his hands, slowly, and sits up,  Nott slides down to his hip but doesn’t wake, so he rests a hand against her back and looks around the room. Fjord is curled up on the other bed, Molly and Yasha tucked in around his head and what looks like another kitten on top his chest.  Caleb and Nott are snuggled in the far corner leaning on Beau, with something fluffy laying next to them. He smiles slightly, tucks the kitten into Jester’s lap, folds his free hand over her shoulder and closes his eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not totally satisfied with this one, but I've been absolutely failing at writing it and so here you go lol. I'll definitely come back to this at *some* point with some of the NPCs, but atm I'm considering a series that's sort of the opposite (Where One of them is turned into a child). Opinions?


End file.
